


Waking Up (To Ash And Dust)

by cliniclyInsane189



Series: Whumptober 2020 [7]
Category: Star Wars Prequel Trilogy, Star Wars: The Clone Wars (2008) - All Media Types
Genre: Child Murder, Gen, Mild Blood, Order 66, Whump
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-10-08
Updated: 2020-10-08
Packaged: 2021-03-08 04:47:08
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 857
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26899906
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/cliniclyInsane189/pseuds/cliniclyInsane189
Summary: Aerin (OC) wakes up in the temple the morning after Order 66. They are alone, and the force is much,muchtoo empty.
Series: Whumptober 2020 [7]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1947934
Comments: 2
Kudos: 1
Collections: Whumptober 2020





	Waking Up (To Ash And Dust)

**Author's Note:**

> For Whumptober 2020 Day 8 - Whumptober Day 08 - **‘Where did everybody go?’** \- “Don’t say goodbye” | Abandoned | **Isolation**  
>  If any of you happen to have read my 'Light in the Dark' series, Aerin was the OC I had in mind when writing those. There have been a couple of lore changes since those days, though, so that series and this should be treated as alternate timelines of the same fic.

Aerin woke slowly. Too slowly. They couldn’t remember when they’d fallen asleep, had no idea how long they’d been sleeping for nor where they were. Trying to wake up was like swimming through treacle - they were still so  _ so _ tired and it took all their energy just to open their eyes.

And when they finally managed they knew something was wrong right away, even through the haze. 

They were in the temple, that much was for certain, but not in their room. They were, instead, curled tight into an alcove, stone pressing in on three sides, fully dressed in their armour.

Why were they here? What were they - wait. What was-? What was that smell? It was…

They took a deep breath and immediately choked on it.

Smoke.

Smoke with a distinctive undercurrent of plasma and blood and charred flesh.

Their eyes snapped fully open, quickly adapting to the weak morning Coruscanti sunlight filtering into the corridor.

They reached into the Force instinctively, and– and–

It was horrifyingly, distressingly,  _ painfully _ empty.

_ Where– Where did everybody go? _

They tried to reach again and their stomach lurched, the attempt sending shards of pain spiralling through their skull. They touched a gauntleted hand to their temple and it came away slick with blood.

_ Fuck. _

Aerin grasped at the wall beside them, gradually pulling themself upright. Then, leaning heavily against the wall for support, they tried reaching again, more slowly this time. 

There  _ was _ something — a few somethings, even – a few tiny, fragile threads, some barely hanging on. Those that held strong were a blessing, those hanging snapped and torn a curse. A tiny few, though, were fraying dangerously and all they could feel on the other ends were blankness and static and, in one heartwrenching case, Darkness, cold and slimy and pressing.

They immediately slammed that one shut, heart racing. They had a strong suspicion they knew who that one was, even without reaching out and checking, but they couldn’t bring themself to try and confirm it. Not right now. Not when they’d just woken up and everyone– everyone was– was–.

They swallowed heavily, pushing down the bile rising in their throat, then bent down to pick up their helmet and pack. The moment the helmet clicked into place, the smell lessened, allowing Aerin to breathe a little easier.

There was nothing missing from the pack - their robes, half-armour and ‘sabers were tucked neatly inside, along with a datapad and a small field-kit were all still there.

They clicked it shut, swung it onto their back and peered out into the hallway.

It was empty, the walls scored in places by blaster-fire.

They set off walking in almost a daze, clinging to the two taught but strong bonds like life-lines.

They weren’t even entirely sure where they were headed, didn’t realise until they made it to the end of the short corridor to the High Council’s Chamber.

The door was open.

Aerin felt dread welling up inside themself, but could not stop their feet from carrying them towards it.

They had a terrible, terrible feeling of what they were going to find, but nothing could have prepared them for actually seeing it.

They let out a choked moan and collapsed to their knees.

The bodies of six or so younglings were strewn across the room - they’d clearly retreated here in an unsuccessful attempt to hide. But…

Aerin doubled over and clapped a hand over the lower part of their helmet, swallowing rapidly as they fought the once again rising urge to vomit.

They hadn’t been killed by blasters. They’d been killed with a lightsaber. 

Aerin had no idea how long they stayed there, curled over on the floor, frozen with horror, but, by the time they could bring themself to move again, the long, creeping shadows and the orange-pink glow in the sky told them the sun was well on its way to setting.

They uncurled slowly, hissing as they slowly, painfully, straightened out their locked-up joints.

They pushed themselves shakily to their feet and backed out of the room, shaking all the while.

Once the horrific sight had left their field of vision they bolted, heading straight for the turbo-lifts that would take them back into the main body of the temple.

They couldn’t stay here. The Temple was not the safe haven it had been for so long, the Clone Troopers no longer the indispensable support Aerin had come to rely on over the past three years. Hell, at this point the entirety of Coruscant was probably a death-trap for any Jedi lucky enough to remain or foolish enough to return.

Foolish… Hm, there was at least one Jedi she could think of that would do such a thing, and Aerin was pretty sure he was alive. Maybe. It was… Likely. Which was better than nothing.

They just had to hold on to that hope - that and the sensation of one bright thread that bound them to another getting rapidly shorter and shorter.

Closer and closer.

Good.

They didn’t think they’d be able to take being alone in this place filled with their family’s corpses for much longer.

**Author's Note:**

> Hi, hope everyone enjoyed this!  
> If you're curious about their backstory and the like, I am _always_ happy to talk about my OCs!  
> Also, yes, Aerin is a Mandalorian Jedi. What about it?


End file.
